13-Dec-2003 -- Well, the day finally came after visiting a couple of confluence points (CP's) that had already been visited. It was time to venture out into new territory. Doug's brother lives in Melfort, SK so tackling 53N 103N was a logical destination. We drove to Melfort on friday night, stayed with Doug's brother and set out early saturday morning towards the CP. After an hour or so of driving it was apparent why this point had not been attempted before. 15km was the closest you can get with a car. Feeling highly energetic we laughed and said the task would be elementary and effortless. Because of course "Scott ran 20km last weekend in one hour". Koop also noted that it would most likely "take about 2 hours" and we would be back and victorious.

With that we sprinted off into the bush. At first it seemed ok - there were small trails and animal paths which made forest walking a little easier. The further we went in, the more difficult it was to find animal trails that led in the right direction. We often chose to take a small path leading sort of in the right direction rather than bushwacking straight for the CP. At about noon, we stopped to analyze the situation. We were about half way to the CP from the car and getting really tired. We had been walking for a couple hours already and definitely wishing we had brought some food. Then the thought occured that there was no way we were going to make it back to the car before dark at this rate. We had to start running more and heading more directly towards the CP rather than zig-zagging our way along trails. We took off running for a few more minutes and then collapsed. We were getting much too weak.

It was about that time, 7 km or so from the CP, that we made the wise choice to accept defeat and go back. This was probably a good decision since we could barely stand up anymore. We took a few pictures then headed back to the car (feeling very drained and quite hungry). The way back was horrible. It didn't take long before we would collapse every 1/2 km out of exhaustion. About halfway from the defeat point to the car each of us started to hallucinate from lack of energy and sustenance. I (steve) started to dream of chocolate milk and greasy burgers and...we won't go any further with this I think. Eventually we made it back to the car and figured we would have died if we walked another kilometer.

So basically, I don't know if it is possible to reach this point in one day. Winter made it easier to walk over streams and swamps yet difficult for camping and forest walking. I wonder if there is an easier access point to the CP? I wonder if I could get ahold of a helicopter.